(Clearwisdom.net) Greeting, Master! Greetings, Fellow practitioners!
In 1997, I began cultivating Falun Dafa in Changchun City when I was a student. At that time, my major learning came from daily group Fa-study, group exercises and experience sharing with other practitioners. As soon as I walked into the cultivation environment, I could feel that the practitioner's words and conduct were righteous. Thus, I was able to find my shortcomings. Everyone treasured this cultivation environment created by Master. Our group study and the exercises became a routine.
After the persecution began in 1999, the cultivation environment in China was destroyed. At the beginning, my school closely monitored me when I was preparing for a trip to Beijing. They detained me and forced me to take a break from the school for a period. I knew I should go to Beijing, but I was overwhelmed by my fear. I was alone at the time, and did not break through the tribulation.
Before graduation, Master had arranged for me to share a rental house with several young practitioners. We studied the Fa and did the exercises every day, helping each other to cultivate diligently. It seems that we forgot about the cruel persecution surrounding us. My xinxing level was upgraded in this group environment. I went to Beijing by myself in July 2000 and did the exercises twice in Tiananmen Square. Both times I was arrested and immediately released. My mind was very pure and the evil could find no excuse to persecute me.
When I first arrived in Thailand and went to group exercises and a study site, several of us mainland practitioners who had just arrived to Thailand were all in tears. When I saw frictions among practitioners in the group, I stopped wanting to go there. I kept complaining. As a result, my xinxing dropped to a lower position. Finally I was bogged down by a barrier between myself and other practitioners.
One day in 2007, I knelt down in front of Master's portrait and said, "Master, I truly want to advance diligently and I want to resolve the conflicts with fellow practitioners. Please help me, so I can share with fellow practitioners." Two days later, a practitioner from Taiwan came to visit. After two sharing and discussions in the park, all the issues were completely resolved in my heart. The Taiwanese practitioner did not know about the conflicts between me and fellow practitioners. He just talked about the predestined relationship between practitioners, and how we made vows to each other and came here to help Master's Fa-rectification. Our predestined relationship formed billions of years ago was very precious. His words dissolved my grievance.
After that discussion, I returned to the group. But I could still feel frictions among us. Sometimes, I saw all kinds of problems in others. But when I looked within, I discovered my own issues during conflicts. For example, I often helped other people, but people did not seem to appreciate my help; some even made negative remarks about me. I was not happy at all. But later, I realized that I had an attachment to fame and reward. I was not completely unselfish; I did not have enough compassion. I realized that these conflicts were a test for my xinxing level; they were created to relinquish my attachments. At the same time, the practitioner who had issues with me also changed. It seemed like nothing had happened between us. I was totally amazed!
I realized that most of the time we do not have conflicts with non-practitioners, because we understand practitioners should know better and take the higher ground. But when we have conflicts with fellow practitioners, we think: you are a practitioner, how could you behave that way? We forget that Master will use our remaining human attachments to upgrade our xinxing.
After overcoming these tribulations, I am truly amazed. The Dafa disciples who have followed Master until now are remarkable! Nonetheless, we still have unknown attachments, and conflicts still happen when human attachments are being relinquished. No matter if we like our cultivation environment or not, we cannot leave it. This environment was created for our cultivation, and we are all responsible for improving it.
When I came to Finland, I carried with me the lessons learned in Thailand. I understand that we must treasure our group environment in order to do well in our tasks. Therefore, I try to participate in all group Fa-study and exercises. Because of language and cultural differences, I felt like a total stranger in Western society. I did not know how to communicate with non-Chinese. But we are all Dafa disciples and we read the same book. After attending group study and sharing meetings for a period, I gradually became more comfortable. Despite my poor English, I managed to communicate with a Finnish practitioner quite well.
I found many of my problems in the group study. The Finnish practitioners do not make small talk like Chinese do. They just sit there quietly. I can see that the Western practitioners have been trying to tolerate our bad habits for a while.
I also found that Western practitioners are more serious about every suggestion. I have learned to be humble. In the past when I had conflicts with others, the root causes were almost always my lack of humility. I always felt passionate about helping others, but some practitioners did not appreciate that; why? I was puzzled: I am doing you a favor, don't you know that? In our group study, I saw how the Finnish practitioners conduct themselves. I found my problem. I always tried to teach others something. Frankly, that was a showing off mentality and self-validation: I am better than you.
I learned that cultivation can never be forced and that our individual cultivation state will affect others. When we become more diligent in cultivation, the not-so-diligent practitioners can see their shortcomings. I saw my own problem during interactions with Finnish practitioners. After a period of group study, cooperating between the Finns and Chinese got much better. Master told us to study the Fa together, so we can understand and learn from each other. That way we can act as one body when working on Fa-rectification projects.
Recently, more Chinese practitioners have come to Finland, so from May to August, we started a daily exercise site in a park near the Helsinki Train Station. Every day, we met between 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Many tourists took photos of our exercises. My sister and I brought a tape player and a banner for our site.
One rainy afternoon, I hesitated for a while but finally decided to go. Amazingly, no sooner had my train arrived in Helsinki than the rain stopped. Before the end of the exercise time, a young man from Germany asked to learn the exercises. When I was teaching him Exercise Two, he quickly went into a deep, meditative state. He said, "Please slow down a bit, I feel so wonderful!" Before he left, he held my hands while trying hard to express his gratitude. He reminded me of when I first became a practitioner, all the sacred and beautiful feelings came back.
Another time my sister and I were exhausted and we fell asleep before 3:00 p.m. My cell phone rang at 3:00 p.m. to wake us up, although the alarm was never set before. We made it to the practice site on time.
The Fa-rectification process is progressing faster and faster, and we all feel that. We are working on many projects. I know that some fellow practitioners have a hard time joining the group Fa-study or exercises. Master taught us in "Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference":
"Disciple: Those of us who do media work need to study the Fa as a group, but we're scattered throughout the world. Would it be appropriate for us to study the Fa together over the Internet?
Master: You can give it a try. But I'm thinking, wherever Dafa disciples may be--in whatever remote corner of the world they may be doing media work--they should not become disconnected from the local Dafa Association. And it's best for you not to disassociate yourself from the local group, either. You should all study the Fa with the Dafa disciples in your local area."
My understanding is that no matter which country we arrive at, it was arranged because we made a pledge in history. We are responsible for saving the people there. We must treasure the cultivation form bestowed upon us by Master. This is the best way for us to cultivate and to fulfill our historic mission.
The above is my personal understanding.
